Nova Scotia Liberals Return to Power With Majority

Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The Nova Scotia Liberal Party
returned to power for the first time in more than a decade after
winning a majority in provincial elections yesterday.

The Liberals, led by Stephen McNeil, were elected in 33 of
51 electoral districts, according to results posted on Elections
Nova Scotia’s website as of 12:05 a.m. local time. McNeil, who
won his riding of Annapolis with about three quarters of 10,100
votes cast, becomes the province’s 28th premier since
confederation. The Progressive Conservatives won in 11 ridings
and the governing New Democratic Party took seven.

Premier Darrell Dexter, party leader since 2001, lost his
seat in the Cole Harbour-Portland Valley district by 31 votes,
according to Elections Nova Scotia. Dexter took the NDP to power
for the first time in 2009. The party held 31 seats in the
legislature when the election was called last month.

The Liberals, who had 12 seats when the legislature was
dissolved, took 45 percent of the popular vote, CBC reported,
versus 27 percent each for the Conservatives and the NDP. Leader
Jamie Baillie’s Conservatives held seven seats at dissolution,
with two seats vacant.

The Liberals haven’t held power in Nova Scotia since 1999.
The province, about 870 miles northeast of New York, is Canada’s
fourth-smallest by population.